The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Weapons such as firearms often produce noise and flash. A suppressor is a device that attaches to the muzzle of the weapon and reduces noise and/or flash. For more than 100 years suppressors have been designed typically for single shot or low rate-of-fire weapons, for example semi-automatic rifles and handguns. Conventional suppressors perform acoustic suppression using internal baffles and chambers that both trap and delay the hot, combusted, expanding propellant gases exiting the barrel of the weapon from entering the ambient environment, as well as reduce the temperature of the expanding propellant gasses before they exit the suppressor. Such previous suppressor designs generally operate by expanding and cooling the hot expanding propellant gasses in the internal chambers of the suppressor, then delaying the release of the gasses, which transfers additional heat to the suppressor. The additional time that the expanding propellant gasses spend in the suppressor before being discharged to the ambient atmosphere results in a reduced acoustic signature.
Conventional suppressor designs, however, are not well suited for weapons which can fire rapid bursts of ammunition, and especially machine guns which are capable of firing bursts at rates of hundreds of rounds per minute. Such bursts of fire can produce unacceptably long dwell times for the expanding propellant gasses that are contained inside the suppressor. The long dwell times for the propellant gases can cause overheating and failure, and potentially even melting, of the internal components of a conventional noise/flash suppressor. In particular, when a conventional suppressor experiences rapid bursts of fire, the heat deposited deep within it, near its bore line, can quickly reach temperatures that cause damage to the suppressor. A conventional suppressor is shown in FIG. 1 that illustrates the multiple baffles near the bore axis of the suppressor that will be subjected to significant heat when firing rapid bursts of ammunition from a weapon, for example from a machine gun.
Accordingly, there remains a need to provide a suppressor which is more efficient at rapidly dissipating the significant heat that is built up deep within its interior areas when the suppressor is used with a weapon firing high rate-of-fire bursts of ammunition.